universaldragonballfandomcom-20200214-history
Shenron
|Race=Dragon |Date of birth= Age 470 |Date of death= Age 753 (revived) Age 767 (alternate timeline) |FamConnect= Kami (creator) Dende (second creator) Porunga (Namekian counterpart) Ultimate Shenron (Black Star Dragon Ball counterpart) Black Smoke Shenron (evil counterpart) }} Shenron (神龍, Shenlong; literally "Spirit Dragon" or "Dragon of Spirit") is a magical dragon from the manga Dragon Ball, as well as the anime Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. In the English dub of Dragon Ball Z, he is mostly called the "eternal dragon" and, in the early Harmony Gold Dragon Ball English dub from the 1980s, he is known as the "Dragon God." Description Shenron is shown with the horns of a stag, sharp teeth, green scaly skin, red eyes, four toes on each foot, a long serpentine body (his tail takes up three-fourths of his length), long flowing whiskers, a long snout, crescent shaped nostrils, and flowing green hair on his cheeks. He is an Eastern dragon, whose kind are benevolent and sacred in Oriental mythologies. Unlike the Western dragons, which have large dorsal foldable wings on their backs, he has none. His kind are good at heart, but as a strong dragon, he has an aggressive temper, and is impatient sometimes (for some reason more so than Porunga, the Namekian Dragon). Shenron can be summoned by gathering all seven of the Dragon Balls of Earth. Shenron can bestow any wish as long as it does not exceed the power of his creator, who must be still alive (i.e. Kami/Piccolo or Dende). Shenron has also threatened to kill the summoner if they do not say a wish on time, or if they do not say a wish at all (although he has only actually attempted to attack someone in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, where Gohan's friendly dragon Icarus tries to attack Shenron). According to Goku, Shenron cannot (or will not) grant the same wish more than once. The Dragon Balls cannot be used for one year after a wish is made, as they turn to stone. The Earth Dragon Balls are relatively small, each about the size of a large orange. The Shenron of the Black Star Dragon Balls is red, opposed to the Shenron of Earth who is green. Unlike Porunga, Shenron can only grant one wish per summoning, until Dende upgrades him to grant 2 wishes. Shenron can wish back more than one person per wish, provided that they (1) died less than a year ago, (2) died under a common circumstance (e.g. killed by a certain villain), and (3) have not already been wished back before. This is used to revive the victims of many villains, such as King Piccolo and his men, Frieza and his men, and Cell. In the King Piccolo Saga, after King Piccolo uses the Dragon Balls to regain his youth, he murders Shenron before he can disperse to prevent anyone else from using the Dragon Balls against him. However, after his defeat, Kami revives Shenron to reward Goku for his valiant efforts against King Piccolo. He had originally decided not to recreate them, as he originally designed the balls to encourage acts of bravery and give people a sense of hope, but the selfishness and greed of mankind caused the Dragon Balls to be used in the exact opposite manner than that intended. It was only upon Goku displaying his undying love for his friends that he decided that there were, indeed, good people left in this world. Shenron was later used to revive Goku in order to defend the planet from the Saiyans. Shortly thereafter, Shenron was indirectly killed by Nappa after Piccolo was killed taking an attack meant for Gohan (since due to his creator Kami's connection to Piccolo, Kami ended up dying the same time as Piccolo). He was indirectly revived by the Namekian Dragon Balls after Gohan and Krillin wished for Piccolo to be revived and transported to Namek. Shenron was later used to wish everyone who was killed by Frieza and his Empire, although it barely worked because Shenron himself was unsure whether the wish could be fulfilled. Shenron was later temporarily killed after, due to extreme circumstances during this time, Kami decided to rejoin with Piccolo, and Piccolo likewise agreed. After Dende's remodeling, if a person only needed one wish, then the Dragon Balls would scatter around the world in the same way as if someone had spoken both wishes. However, the Dragon Balls will only become stone for four months, allowing the finding of the Balls and summoning of the Dragon eight months faster than usual. Using the Dragon Balls this way allows only one wish the next time Shenron is summoned. Afterward, the balls scatter and turn into stones for a whole year, the next time allowing the two wishes it normally grants. Also, in the manga, it was implied during the Buu Saga that Dende may have upgraded Shenron during the seven years of peace, as Goku mentions that they have two wishes left after they wished for all the people killed that day back to life, but Piccolo replies that the immense amount of revivals during that time had consumed most of the Dragon Balls' power to the extent that it could only allow one more wish. In Dragon Ball GT, an evil dragon, known as Black Smoke Shenron in the English dub, is invocated from the cracked Dragon Balls (which were cracked because of Negative Energy), which emits seven individual dragons. Goku, along with his family and friends, are significantly inconvenienced and must battle them resulting in the Shadow Dragon Saga. After Goku and the other Z Warriors defeat the Shadow Dragons, Shenron appears without being summoned. He heals Goku's wounds and grants one last wish before he leaves the Earth with Goku and the Dragon Balls in order to recuperate and teach the Earth's inhabitants to stop relying on the Dragon Balls to solve their own problems. One hundred years later, Shenron presumably returns, as the Four-Star Dragon Ball is seen again. Granting wishes Shenron can bestow any wish as long as it does not exceed the power of his creator, who must still be alive when he is summoned (i.e. Kami or Dende). He is unable to restore life to those that have died because of old age (but he can restore a person's youth), sickness or any other natural deaths. In the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, it is revealed that Shenron cannot grant the same wish more than once (e.g. bringing back those from the dead that have been killed before, etc.) and he also cannot grant a wish to defeat or kill a living being that surpasses the power of his creator (this means that the Dragon can't kill an enemy that Kami or Dende themselves are incapable of killing). In the movie Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, it is suggested that Shenron is capable of granting wishes without actually being summoned, demonstrated by him letting Goku join the battle against Broly. Appearances in Other Media Live action movies In 1990, Shenron is summoned by Goku on the TV show "Yamada Katsute Nai Wink" (やまだかつてないWink, "Yamada Katsute Nai Wink"). The dragon grants the J-Pop star and hostess Kuniko Yamada's wish to gain the ability to execute the Kamehameha, which she playfully uses on Goku. Shenron also appears in Dr. Slump, Cross Epoch, and Dragonball Evolution. Shenron appears briefly at the end of Dragonball Evolution, where he is voiced by Christopher Sabat, who also voiced him in the FUNimation Dub of the anime. After Master Roshi was killed by Oozaru, Goku, Yamcha and Bulma use all seven of the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron and ask him to resurrect Roshi, which Shenron does. After granting Goku's wish, Shenron vanishes, and so do the Dragon Balls. Video game appearances ]] Shenron appears in nearly all the [[List of Dragon Ball video games|''Dragon Ball video games]]. Notably, he is a support-type character who automatically revives fallen characters in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2. In Dragon Ball Online, he grants the wish for humans to transform into Super Saiyans, and for Majins to transform into their Pure Majin form. In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, after Goku's resurrection and Kami's death, Mr. Popo creates his own set of Dragon Balls. Shenron, who has now more limited powers, can basically grant six different wishes. The first three, which can be asked for as many times as wanted, are a ton of EXP, a lot of AP and lots of Zeni. The other three give access to a new area (East City Ruins), to a unique item (Heavy Karate Outfit, which increases EXP by walking), and the access to the secret strongest boss in the game (Broly, found at Dragon Rock). In many fighting games, such as the ''Budokai Tenkaichi'' series, the ''Raging Blast'' series, and Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale, when all the Dragon Ball are gathered, Shenron can be summoned to ask for various items, techniques, pictures, etc. The wishes he can grant in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 are: Future Gohan as a playable character, 10,000 zeni, Mount Paozu as a Battle Stage, and Desert (noon) as a Battle Stage. In Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, it is shown that Shenron cannot grant wishes to someone he cannot understand, and that he may leave after a certain amount of time if the person in question does not give the wish under a time limit. It is also shown that when someone is wished to a certain place for a certain purpose, they cannot leave until it is finished, and forms of translocation like Instant Transmission do not work. Voice actors *Japanese Dub: Kenji Utsumi, Masaharu Satō (on occasion in DBZ) *Harmony Gold Dub: Steve Kramer *Ocean Group Dub: Doug Parker (DB), Don Brown (DBZ) *FUNimation Dub: Christopher R. Sabat *Blue Water Dub: Dave Pettitt *Latin American Dub: Abel Rocha *Portuguese Dubs: **Portugal: Ricardo Spínola **Brazil: João Batista, Jonas Mello *Croatian Dub: Costa Ipsa *Italian Dub: Giovanni Battezzato, Neri Marcorè (movies) Trivia *In the original Dragon Ball logo, it is shown that a green "Chinese" dragon very similar to Shenron is tied around the letters eating the "o". *Although he is known as the "Eternal" Dragon, King Piccolo kills him after he wishes for eternal youth, although "Eternal" could simply mean he does not get old and die, but can still be killed. *During the Namek Saga, when Frieza tells the Namekians about the story of the Dragon Balls which he had heard, the dragon shown is Shenron, although Frieza had never seen him before. *The Dragon Fist technique vastly resembles Shenron himself. *In one of Akira Toriyama's artworks, the Dr. Slump character Arale is seen holding Shenron and tying him up. *Shenron's original design changed over the course of the Dragon Ball timeline, as his underside changed from green to a more yellow or minilla color. *When Shenron revives someone, they appear where their body is located and all injuries healed up. However, if the body was destroyed, the person will be revived in exactly the same place he died, regardless if it does not exist anymore. This was why at first it was a problem to revive Krillin and Goku (who was thought to be dead after Namek was destroyed), as reviving them would bring them back to a planet that does not exist so they would have died in the vacuum of space. However, the souls can be moved to the Other World Check-In Station and thus allowing the revived to appear where the dragon was summoned instead. *After the Cell Games Saga, Shenron is able to grant three wishes (two if one is resurrecting a massive amount of people). Yet, in Fusion Reborn, he can grant three wishes and in Wrath of the Dragon, he can grant only one (though this may be due to the Dragon granting the one wish in the Buu Saga to revive Vegeta's victims, but the other wish not being used so they could make another wish in 4 months). It should be noted that the Japanese version of Fusion Reborn mentioned two wishes, so the three wishes line was a dub error. Also, the second wish was omitted from the English version (they intended to use the second wish to revive all those who were killed by Hirudegarn). *After the time of the Majin Buu Arc, Porunga became stronger than Shenron, as he can resurrect several people at the same time, including people who had already been resurrected before. *In Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, it is shown that his power cannot cross dimensions or timelines (which contradicts what is said in regards to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber during the Fusion Saga). Fusion Reborn also hints at this when he states that he cannot grant the Z Fighters' wish to prevent the dead from escaping Hell as it was a problem that originated within Other World, and although he is capable of moving the dead souls back to their dimension, they would simply just return. Gallery Category:Dragon Category:Characters